That was very cool. It takes a while to get going though. I reckon the intro story/tutorial took 70 minutes, which imo, is about 50 minutes too long. There’s combat in there so it’s not hand’s off, but it’s slooow.
Combat itself is really enjoyable, most surprising to me with a controller was the haptic feedback. It’s really well done, and made every attack feel super visceral. For that reason alone I’d be using the controller, but I like the controls too. It took some getting used to, and the basics (stick clicks = mouse clicks) took a bit more getting used to, as did moving and turning on the left stick and the right stick acting as a mouse. It was a bit like rubbing your stomach and patting your head, but it only took about 10 minutes to gr0k.
Triggers and hot keys are better imo than ffxiv, for me, because it doesn’t require you to keep a trigger pulled for ages, and targeting is largely about which direction you’re facing.
I actually think they’re frustratingly close to a perfect mmo for controllers. It feels like there are some unused buttons which could be used easily. Radial menus could make it even more usable too, and holding a button down to switch the right stick to mouse mode would allow a more natural feel to character movement.
I’m going to spend some time optimising the pad controls, but it doesn’t need much. I have 4 back paddles as well, which I’ll try and configure to make it even better. Two of those will probably replace the frequent stick/mouse clicks tbh.
Anyway.. it’s starting to get good. Looks and sounds really good as well. This could be the first mmo I stick with since CoH and Guild Wars.